Censored Stories – Ten newsworthy events mainstream media ignores.

Tucson Weekly : Currents : Censored Stories
Last month, two news stories broke the same day: one meaty, one junky. In Detroit, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that the Bush administration's warrantless National Security Agency surveillance program was unconstitutional and must end. Meanwhile, somewhere in Thailand, a weirdo named John Mark Karr claimed he was with 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey when she died in 1996.

Take a moment, read the full story at the site referenced above. Don't worry, it won't keep you away from YouTube for more than a few minutes.

And this surprised you why? I could join in the chorus and scream at the media, and while they have some fault they are not the ones I blame. Panem et circenses. Our media, no matter how big or how small are beholding to their respective owners. None of them are “fair and balanced”. Mass media relies on shareholders, which require profits, which requires giving the audience what they want so that they come back and view more shows, allowing advertisers to pay for more eye balls. Given that the businesses involved in news are going to give the people what they want. And the masses have overwhelmingly stated that they want more sex and violence. They don’t want to be bored.

I’ve seen how we have a tendency to blame film makers for increasingly sexual and violent content in films, but do you really think that audiences would shell out $10+ a person to watch the Exorcist today when they instead could choose Saw III with gruesome after gruesome scene of carnage? The producers feed the need. And audiences, like drug addicts, find that what gave them a thrill before no longer does, and so they reach out for something that gives a bigger thrill. The newspapers and television are the same. They have to keep the audience coming back to make payroll, pay rent, and keep the shareholders happy. And they’ve realized what brings them back. Sensationalism.